Department of Health and Human Services assistant secretary Rachel Levine suggested that hormone treatments would be required to ensure that children do not go through the "wrong puberty."
Levine, a man who began publicly identifying as a woman as an adult, was asked in a Friday interview on ABC why sex-change treatments should not be reserved for adults.
"Adolescence is hard and puberty is hard," Levine said. "What if you’re going through the wrong puberty? What if you, inside, feel that you are female but now you're going through a male puberty?"
Levine claimed "there are no medical procedures done" on "prepubertal children" but, "the standard of care allows them to explore that with therapy." Puberty blockers are administered early in puberty,
"Gender-affirming care is literally suicide prevention," Levine also said, adding that red-state bans of such treatments are are "unscientific" and "medically harmful."
Levine has been a vocal critic of restrictions on youth sex-change treatments. Last year, Levine falsely insisted: "There is no argument among medical professionals ... about the value and the importance of gender-affirming care" for children.
While the Biden administration last year issued guidelines endorsing puberty-blockers and hormone replacement therapy for minors that identify as transgender, more than 20 Republican-led U.S. states have banned such treatments.